Democratic challenger to Rep. Marc Veasey has history as a Republican

WASHINGTON — When Tom Sanchez votes for himself for Congress next month, he’ll be casting his first vote in a Democratic primary in at least four years.

Tarrant County records show that Sanchez — who is challenging Rep. Marc Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat, in an overwhelmingly Democratic district — voted in the Republican primaries of 2010 and 2012.

Sanchez, who also donated to three GOP presidential candidates in 2012, said he had been discouraged by Democrats’ failure to overhaul immigration policy during President Barack Obama’s first term. He noted that many Democrats in Texas have voted in Republican primaries, including Veasey.

“In my case, it all turns on the issue of who is going to be the least harmful to this constituency at this point,” Sanchez said. “Republicans hate Mexican-Americans, so there was no place for me there.”

Veasey last voted in a GOP primary in 1996. After that, he worked for longtime Democratic congressman Martin Frost, who lost his seat in 2004 — the year Veasey began appearing on ballots as a Democrat and won his first campaign, to the state House. This year, he is seeking a second term in Congress.

Sanchez is a telecommunications lawyer making his first run for office. He’s not just unknown to most voters but to many local party leaders, some of whom are openly wary of his loyalty.

Michael McPhail, a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee from Irving, said he’s known people to abandon the GOP and trusts their sincerity. But “the fact that I don’t know him and that he wants to be my congressman — that concerns me the most.”

He emphasizes that he is Hispanic, like more than 3 in 5 residents of the district, and touts the endorsement of the Dallas County Tejano Democrats.

Veasey, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, has Hispanic backers, too, including the Mexican American Democrats of Texas.

The district was created after the 2010 census to give minority voters an opportunity to control a U.S. House seat. Hispanic residents outnumber black voters, but neither group dominates. In 2012, Veasey beat lawyer Domingo Garcia, a former Dallas councilman and state legislator, in a primary runoff.

Sanchez suggests that deprived Hispanics of their rightful representation. And he says Veasey hasn’t done enough to push an immigration overhaul or to halt “barbaric” deportations, which have hit a record pace under Obama.

He said he would demand that the administration provide temporary protected status for those who are in the country illegally but are otherwise law-abiding.

Veasey said he had made progress on the issue, through casework done by his staff and community immigration forums.

“I’ve worked very hard on the issues that are very important to the Latino community, including immigration, but also those areas that are very important to everyone in the district,” he said.

Federal campaign records show that Sanchez supported three GOP candidates for president in the last election. He sent $500 to Gov. Rick Perry in September 2011 and $1,250 to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in March 2012.

A few months before the general election, he sent $300 to nominee Mitt Romney — who had won the GOP nomination in part by striking a harder line on immigration. At one point, he called for people in the country illegally to “self-deport,” which immigrant activists denounced.

Sanchez said he donated to Perry and Gingrich because he was initially encouraged by their views on immigration and then to Romney because of frustration over the Obama administration’s handling of the issue.

He pointed out that he voted for Obama and has donated to Democrats but acknowledged he has bounced back and forth.

Within days of the Gingrich donation, he gave $500 to Brianna Hinojosa-Flores, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the district held by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington. In 2008, he sent $1,000 to a political action committee formed by Democratic former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb. And in 2001 he gave $600 to the Hispanic Democratic Organization, a Chicago group.

For the filing period that ended Dec. 31, Sanchez reported no donations to his own campaign. He has lent the effort $200,000 from personal funds.

Veasey has raised nearly $720,000, and had $525,000 in the bank.

Sanchez is “not really in tune or in touch with the Democrats, and so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s not raising a lot of local money,” the incumbent said.

Sanchez most recently worked as a vice president at the smartphone company Research in Motion, which created the BlackBerry. He has lived in the district since November, when he moved from Colleyville to Irving.

He served on the board of the Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce from 2008 to 2011. The chamber’s chief operating officer, Shawn Callaway, called him “a great leader” and “very effective,” though he stressed that the chamber isn’t taking sides in the congressional race.

“He had a great vision for finding ways to incorporate business tactics into our work,” Callaway said.

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